


S.T.A.Y.

by caesar



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Space, F/M, Feelings, M/M, interstellar au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-24
Updated: 2018-09-24
Packaged: 2019-07-16 06:33:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16080452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caesar/pseuds/caesar
Summary: No one wanted Levi to go.Mikasa hated Levi for leaving. Eren could never hate Levi, but he came incredibly close when he watched the ship take off into the atmosphere.They both watched from the ground, and Eren's heart broke as he fell to his knees.The ship shot into the sky, and Levi felt his chest ache as tears slid out of the corners of his eyes; he was leaving his heart on the ground with Eren while he searched for a new life among the stars. Petra took his hand when the g-force allowed, giving a squeeze that let him know she was there. She remembered all from before, and she knew now that Levi was leaving his whole world on Earth while they went to search for a new home.They were doing this for everyone; humanity needed to be saved again.





	S.T.A.Y.

**Author's Note:**

> this is a result of watching Interstellar and listening to the soundtrack a lot (which I highly recommend doing while reading this)

_T-minus ten._

 

No one wanted Levi to go.

 

_Nine._

 

Mikasa hated Levi for leaving. Eren could never hate Levi, but he came incredibly close when he watched the ship take off into the atmosphere.

 

_Eight._

 

They both watched from the ground, and Eren's heart broke as he fell to his knees.

 

_Seven._

 

_"...you don't know when you're coming back? If you're coming back?"_

 

_Six. Main engines start._

 

 _“Eren, I_ will _come back."_

 

_Five._

 

The ship shot into the sky, and Levi felt his chest ache as tears slid out of the corners of his eyes; he was leaving his heart on the ground with Eren while he searched for a new life among the stars. Petra took his hand when the g-force allowed, giving a squeeze that let him know she was there. She remembered all from before, and she knew now that Levi was leaving his whole world on Earth while they went to search for a new home.

 

 _Four_.

 

_"I love you, I'm sorry. I love you."_

 

_Three._

 

They were doing this for everyone; humanity needed to be saved again.

 

 _Two_.

 

They saved humanity once before. In this lifetime, Levi was only doing this to save Eren.

 

 _One_.

* * *

"Eren," Levi's voice is hoarse, and his eyes are tired. It is the one year anniversary since the expedition began, and he wonders if Eren even receives these messages anymore. The fear that nothing gets sent crosses his mind as he speaks. "I left my heart with you a year ago today, and I am so sorry. What keeps me going is the hope that you haven't given up on me. I love you with all that I am."

 

Levi hopes that Eren still holds onto Levi, but he also hopes that Eren isn't clinging to a ghost that may never return.

* * *

Eren used to visit the space center every week, at least two visits per week. He would check the messages received, and replay them over and over again. He cried and his heart broke a plethora of times over. When it started to hurt too much, he would show up once a day even if all he did was replay old messages.

 

And then the messages stopped coming. They told him the ship was likely either out of reach or over a threshold that prevented signals from sending or receiving, and at first he clung to the idea. He didn't give up.

 

_Eren, everything is beautifully haunting out here. Mikasa would have a field day painting some of the planets and stars that we've seen. Hopefully there's some photos saved on the ship's database. I can't wait to see you when I come home. Hopefully it's sooner rather than later. I'm sorry. I love you so very much._

 

He refused to give up on Levi, but the visits dwindled down; he couldn't handle the disappointment each day. He replays old messages on a handheld recorder he always carried with him.

 

Armin managed to find Eren and Mikasa. It was a bittersweet reunion, reminiscing over their past experiences but also embracing the current pain of this life. As much as Eren was happy to have Armin, he wouldn’t have traded Levi for his best friend if the universe would have let him pick.

 

Armin tried to help explain to Eren the likely scenarios as to why the messages stopped and encouraged him to keep sending them to Levi in case they can still receive messages. Eren continued to grow wary and tired, his heart aching too much every time he stepped into that center with his friends.

 

A month after the messages stopped, Eren stopped showing up at the center.

* * *

Levi is looking out the ship's nose window, a large planet ahead of them and its atmosphere blending colors beautifully. There is a brilliant green color that reminds him of Eren's eyes.

 

He sees Eren in everything.

 

He spins the ring on his left hand, and hopes that Eren still wears his band.

* * *

Eren looked at his hands curled around Levi's favorite tea mug, and noticed that his hands have gotten slimmer; depression caused him to shed some weight. His wedding ring became loose, but he still wore it.

 

The ring reminded him of his dream of Levi coming home safely.

 

 _I almost lost my wedding ring today. I thought I dropped it somewhere in the ship, and with no gravity it would've been anywhere. I figured you would've killed me if I came home with no ring on._ (Levi laughs.) _I'm sorry. I'll talk to you soon. I love you._

 

His gaze rose to see Mikasa's ring glitter for a moment, her slender hands cradling the new miracle bundled in yellow.

 

"Eren, come hold your niece."

 

Eren smiled, and he thought instantly of Levi; he should've been there to help welcome the young one into the family. He hoped that Levi still traveled among the stars, and that he could come home to maybe start a family with Eren once he returns.

* * *

Petra already has children of her own waiting for her to return home, and Levi is envious.

 

"Levi, this plan may not work. We have two more planets to explore and see if they can be new homes, but only enough fuel to visit one and make it home if we stretch it. We don't have enough supplies either to do the expedition as planned."

 

She's right, and Levi makes a decision after a long pause.

 

"We'll visit one, and go home. We'll make it work."

 

Petra gives him a hard look before nodding. Levi sighs, his mind heavy and his heart twisting.

* * *

Too many years had passed.

 

Eren sat outside every night and watched the sky; he prayed for Levi's safe return. He looked for the ship in every movement of a satellite and every twinkle of a star.

 

_It's been too long since I've been home. We aren't looking at the same sun anymore, but know that you hold my heart, Eren. I'm sorry. I love you._

 

Sometimes Jean sat outside with him on the porch.

 

"I'm scared he'll never make it home," Eren had said one night. He usually doesn't talk much about it simply because it hurt too much and he hated the pity his friends gave him. Jean, though, didn't give pity but instead felt for Eren.

 

"Well, whenever he does come home, he can meet his niece," Jean offered. He didn't know what he really felt about Levi's trip returning because once the connection was lost, everyone was left in the dark. However, Jean did hope for the best for Eren's sake. It was also a nice thought that, since Jean married Levi's younger sister (sister in this life, at least), he hoped that Levi could truly live a happier life with a real family this time around.

* * *

Levi intends to evacuate the spacecraft so that Petra could make it home safely to her family. It pains him to know that he will cause Eren grief, but he thinks of the photos of Petra's children and can’t imagine causing them to lose their mother at such a young age. He sees the pain Eren still suffers from the loss of his mother, and how he felt when his mother passed away in that dirty room of the Underground in that life.

 

He will die for Petra’s safe return, and he will do so without regret.

* * *

More time has gone by, and Eren found himself on the porch again. He twirls his wedding ring idly, a sigh escaping him.

 

He gazed up at the night sky, the band of the Milky Way stretching across glittering velvet. He wondered what it's like to view the Earth from where those stars are at.

 

He's older than Levi was when he originally left.

 

"Uncle Eren!” Eren’s niece startled him out of his trance, and a tired smile stretches on his lips. She climbed on his lap and he brushed her black hair from her face. “Why are you out here? Are you waiting on Uncle Levi again? He never comes home.”

 

A part of Eren wanted to cry at her words in protest, but instead he chuckled, choosing to appreciate her childhood innocence. “He will one day.” He adjusted her on his lap to face the same direction he was. “Look, Ana. Do you see those stars?” He pointed to the band of the Milky Way visible, where stars and galaxies alike all bundled together in the sky. “Uncle Levi is somewhere out there, far away in space. He’s trying to find us a new home.”

 

Ana scrunched her nose in confusion, turning her golden eyes back to her uncle. “But _this_ is our home.”

 

“Yes, but we need to find a new one in the future. We’re okay right now, but Levi is out there with other good people to find a better place for your children, and your grandchildren.”

 

“But I’m a kid! I don’t have grandchildren!” Ana giggled, thinking her uncles were silly. “I hope he comes back home. I want you to stop being so sad all the time.”

 

Tears welled up in Eren’s eyes at her words. In an attempt to hide his watery eyes, he held Ana close to him, stroking her soft hair gently. “Me too, Ana. Me too.”

* * *

“ _PETRA!_ ”

 

Levi is shrieking Petra's name, reaching an arm toward her as if he could keep her there through the ship's walls. He watches as she is in the evacuation pod, giving up her life so that Levi can live.

 

In the moment she got into the evacuation pod, there was a confession of Petra's lie: her family was all killed by the famine, and she only pretended they were alive for her own sanity on the expedition. If she has a family to save then she has a reason to live through the tortuous trip into space.

 

Levi became her family again in this lifetime.

 

He is screaming, tears streaming down his red cheeks, and he watches as she drifts away due to gravitational pull. The ship is on autopilot, and he is alone in the ship as it passes through the hole in time.

 

Levi's ship ends up back into their home galaxy, and his entire being is hurt by Petra's sacrifice.

 

He hopes Eren, who remembers Petra from before, will understand. They found another home but he lost his family, too, once again.

* * *

Something horrible had happened.

 

Eren received an urgent phone call from the space center, and he wasn't sure how to react to seeing their number on caller id; they stopped calling about three years prior. After a little over ten years of the ship being gone and then Eren not receiving calls so long after, he was alarmed.

 

He drove Levi's truck to the center but stopped partway, the sight of something falling from the sky causing him to pause.

 

There was smoke billowing from the falling object, and he screamed.

 

Something was wrong.

 

They wouldn't let Eren inside the center due to the unexpected nature of the ship's return; since contact was lost, no one really knew if they would come back or if they were even _alive_.

 

Eren had never been more terrified in his life than he was in that moment.

* * *

There's so much noise, and _dear gods_ there's so much smoke. Something went amiss when Levi entered Earth's atmosphere, and he wonders for a brief moment if his eardrums will blow out and if he'll live to see Eren.

 

All he feels is how violently his body is racking and he feels his heart racing in his chest, and alongside that instinctual awareness of his body he is thinking of his family in this life.

* * *

Eren found an unlocked side door and ran inside and forced his way past any person who tried to stop him. He didn't mean to physically push anyone aside or cause them to fall, but he was so focused on finding out if Levi was alive or dead that nothing else mattered at that moment.

 

" _Eren!_ " Mikasa's voice rang out from behind him, and he assumed that she followed him. He ignored her.

 

He knew the hallways and he knew there were only a few rooms they'd put him in if he was alive and needed medical attention.

 

The first few were empty.

* * *

There's shouting. He can't see, and there's pressure over his eyes. Panic would begin to rise, but there's too many sensations to focus on any specific one. His suit from the ship is missing, and he's shivering from the chill of the room. There's a dull pain in his neck and his ankle.

 

Levi wonders amidst his foggy thoughts if he's dying.

 

What a disappointment.

 

His emotions creep up, and somewhere among all that he's experiencing he feels his heart twist at the thought of Eren.

 

He remembers the last time he saw Eren, before he left. He tried to console Eren and Eren had fallen to his knees on the floor. Eren was in tears.

 

_Levi, please don't go. Stay. I love you. Stay with me. Please, stay._

 

* * *

The mission failed.

 

Levi made it home.

* * *

 

Levi stirs. His eyelids are heavy; _am I dead?_ He must be. His body aches.

 

"Levi, please. I'm here."

 

The voice belongs to Eren.

 

He opens his eyes, and while his head pounds from how bright the light is, he blinks a few times and he sees Eren. Eren is with him. Eren's stunning eyes are wide and full of tears and fixed on Levi.

 

"Eren," Levi says hoarsely, and his heart starts to go crazy.

 

Levi is not dead. He’s here with Eren.

 

Eren is older. His jawline is stronger, but his face is tired. Levi wonders if he grew any taller; he always joked about Eren being a tree.

 

Eren is older, and Levi realizes the gravity of that meaning. Levi was nine years Eren's senior, and Eren was twenty when Levi left.

 

"How old are you, now?"

 

Eren gives a bittersweet smile as he understands the silent, true question being veiled: _how long have I been gone?_ "I'll be thirty-three in a few weeks, Levi. I'm older than you were when you left, even though you look just like you did on that day.”

 

Just shy of thirteen years.

 

Levi's head is spinning. "I'm so sorry, Eren."

 

"Hey," Eren finally takes a hold of Levi's hand, his hold tight but comforting. "It's okay. I'm just happy that you're finally home."

 

Eren gets up from his chair, tears welling up in his eyes, and he reaches to touch Levi's face. He gently places his warm hands on Levi's cheeks, cradling his face with the gentlest of hands. Levi wonders why Eren seems so afraid to touch him, and then the thought strikes him that on top of Levi’s face being bruised from the bad landing, perhaps it is also simply surreal to be in the same room again after so long.

 

"Levi, I missed you so much. You're never leaving me ever again," Eren croaks out, a sob racking his body. Levi raises his hands to Eren's chest, one hand sliding up to wipe tears from Eren's wet face. "No one knew when you were coming home."

 

"When," Levi repeats.

 

He had held onto hope that whole time.

 

Levi pulls Eren in to kiss him, and they melt into one another.

 

He can't remember how long he had been gone, but he does remember how much he longed to have kissed Eren that entire voyage. He remembers the crook of Eren's neck, the line of his jaw, and the way Eren is always so incredibly warm. Space was cold and unwelcoming; coming home means coming home to Eren and to his warmth.

 

"I'm so sorry," Levi says in between kisses. "I'm sorry for ever leaving. I'm sorry I was gone for so long. I'm just so sorry."

 

Eren hushes him with another kiss. There's a knock on the door when their lips meet, and without waiting for an answer the door opens and Levi's stomach flips with a heavy amount of emotion when he meets gazes with Mikasa, standing in the doorway with her hair tied back in a messy bun. Her normally steely eyes are as wide as Eren’s at the sight of Levi, and her stoic demeanor shatters as she hesitantly makes her way to Levi’s side opposite Eren. “Oh, Levi,” she whispers, grasping his free hand. Levi notices that her figure is a little fuller in her torso, and her face is older too. He realizes that she must be his age now.

 

“Mikasa,” Levi breathes, and she smiles in return through her tears. She is so relieved to see him again, and see him alive; she gives him a hug that is not tight enough to make his body ache worse, but enough for him to know all the feelings she couldn't begin to convey in words.

 

“I married Jean,” Mikasa tells Levi. “The year you left we decided to stop dancing around each other.” She wipes her face clean of tears, and now a new light shines in her eyes. While Levi never forgot that up close, they’re actually a deep shade of blue, he definitely missed seeing his sister. They made up for animosity in their last life with familial love in this one. “There’s…there’s some people I really want you to meet, Levi,” she says softly, squeezing his hand.

 

Levi is confused, but Eren isn’t, who hasn’t stopped crying but at least the sobs have stopped. Mikasa gets up to open the door and Levi is stunned to see Armin walk in, the same bright blue eyes as sharp as ever. Behind Armin walks in a young girl, around the age of ten, with dark hair like Mikasa and golden eyes that must be from her father. Levi raised his eyebrows in shock, his eyes glistening. “Y-You—“ he doesn’t even know what he’s saying to this girl who is looking at Levi curiously, so instead he looks at Mikasa. “You?”

 

She laughs, and Jean follows in behind the young girl with an even smaller person, a baby dressed in red, held within his arms. Levi lets out a strangled sound and he’s definitely crying as he looks at this beautiful family.

 

“Captain,” Jean speaks, nodding respectfully at Levi with a smile, “meet Ana and Peter. Kids, meet your Uncle Levi.”

 

This is his family.

 

The baby—Peter—is placed in Levi’s lap, and it babbles at Levi, reaching toward Levi’s bruised face, and he laughs despite his aching heart. The ache is different now, though—it’s not with longing, but with love. He wonders how many milestones he’s missed in these children’s lives. His sore hands hold Peter in his lap, and Ana breaks into a smile.

 

“Now that you’re home, Uncle Eren can stop being sad!”

 

Everyone laughs through tears at Ana’s exclamation, and Levi looks lovingly at Eren.

 

He is home again.

* * *

A month passes. Levi goes back home with Eren, but it’s not quite the same as before. The house is full of life, whereas before it was just the two of them and Mikasa. Now there are children, one learning to walk around the wood floors and another who won’t stop asking Levi questions about time and space and traveling through the universe. Armin found a home with them all again, and Jean isn’t as insufferable as he was within the walls.

 

Levi’s body is still aching, but the bruises are gone and the ones remaining are only yellow now.

 

He sits outside on the porch, staring up at the sky littered with stars and the band of the Milky Way that stretches across the constellations.

 

“I sat in that same spot every night, wondering what you were thinking of out there,” Eren says, and Levi turns his head to see Eren standing against the front door to the house. Levi reaches out his hand, and when Eren places his hand in Levi’s, Levi presses his lips gently against Eren’s tan fingers.

 

“I always thought of you,” Levi murmurs against Eren’s fingers. “You were in everything I saw. Every star, every planet.”

 

Eren leans down and kisses Levi, smiling against his lips. “I love you so much.”

 

Levi looks at Eren’s bright eyes, and no galaxy could ever compare to the sea of green before him now.

 

“I love you forever.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it! (⌒▽⌒)


End file.
